Homily for the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 9, 2024, Year B

There is no homily this week from Fr. Irvin. We present this homily from Deacon McDonald

Deacon Michael McDonald

Diocese of Albany

(Click here for Sunday’s readings)

Today's gospel passage which we just heard appears early in Mark's Gospel. It's right at the beginning, right as Jesus starts his ministry. He hits the ground running. He swings into action. He calls his first disciples. Crowds gather and begin to follow him. He cures people and he drives out evil spirits.

And in that very close-knit world of the Mediterranean, where family membership and loyalty were prime – and gave a person identity – Jesus does the unthinkable. He leaves his family and he takes to the road preaching. His life changed so much that his own family thought he went mad. And they wind up saying what we sometimes say about members of our own family when they begin to stray a little bit. "That guy must be nuts." or “What's gotten into her?"

Jesus was preaching that God's kingdom was present right then on earth, and that God was acting through him. And he taught, claiming no authority but himself. Because of all that he infuriated the religious leaders of his day. "He's not official." they said, "He lacks the proper credentials." "Where does he get all this from?" "Who were his teachers?" "Who does he think he is?" But because he was doing good, curing people, driving out evil spirits, challenging the status quo – his opponents tried to discredit him. "Where is all this coming from?" they said, "Where will it end?"

It is easy to discount and just demean and dismiss what we don't understand, or what may challenge us to change our way of thinking and acting. One approach in doing this is something like those religious leaders did – attack the individual. "Sure, he drives out demons, so he must therefore be in league with Satan." Well Jesus responds and he shows them what a foolish statement that is. If he were in league with the devil, why would he be casting evil spirits out of people? When you think about it, Jesus has either brought God's presence in a special way in this world, or he was a madman.

The religious leaders of the time think he's on the side of evil. And his own family believes that he's lost his mind. They can't deal with this unusual charismatic and powerful prophet, and so they dodged a change of heart. They cancel out his message. They denied the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus, and in doing so, they resist the possibilities of forgiveness. If you don't believe you can be forgiven then you can't. What really was unforgivable was seeing what Jesus was doing and then attributing it to evil. That's a trap. There's no way out of that. That's like if you went to see your doctor to perform a life-saving operation on you, and you see him as someone who’s going to knife you – and then you wind up not allowing the surgery. Not allowing the healing that it could bring.

John the Baptist had predicted that one stronger than he was coming, and that he was not worthy to unfasten the sandals of that one. Today's gospel tells us that Jesus is the one that John had expected, and that God's kingdom has now entered into our lives. Jesus has the power over evil deeds and temptations that can defeat us.

Many people admire Jesus. They call him a holy man, a great ethical teacher, a model for peace. All of that's true, but there is a danger in titles like that. It can also be a way of putting Jesus off keeping him at a distance. Admiring a great heroic person does not always involve committing ourselves to one. It's not all about admiration. For us, Jesus is so much more than that. He is the powerful one that God has sent to us. He is God's presence in our life every single day.

And so, at our Eucharist today and always, let's invite the powerful one of God into our lives so that he can help us deal with issues at home, or tie up the evil and negative influences that afflict us, and distract our children, help us to break the habits that we've not been able to break on our own, release our instincts to do good despite all of our fears, and put anxieties away – those that drain us of our life. That's how we embrace the call of Jesus our savior. That's how we recognize that we are in God's kingdom right now.